$3.5 million to keep libraries open seven days a week

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

The proposed Dallas city budget would provide a $3.5-million increase in funding to public libraries.

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That means libraries including North Oak Cliff and Hampton-Illinois would have their hours restored to seven days a week. The proposed new schedule at Hampton-Illinois includes 7:45 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. And North Oak Cliff would be open until 8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. Those later hours are intended to make the libraries more available to school children.

The budget also provides about $1.5 million for the 29 libraries to hire about 100 new employees, for a total of about 350. Before the libraries took drastic budget cuts in 2008, the system had about 560 employees. Thirteen of the libraries, including the central library downtown, would be open seven days a week.

More funding is needed to purchase technology for the libraries, she says. The city’s 29 libraries have a total of five copy machines, and none of them have laptops, much less e-readers or tablets. Large-format scanners to replace the copiers would cost about $5,500 each, Park says.

“We’re very appreciative of the $6 million, but we want $10 million … so we can purchase technology that wasn’t even available six years ago,” she says.